Devotion & Sacred Story
The Rāmāyaṇas, the Bhāgavatam, hymns and devotional writings.
The RāmāyaṇaAdhyātma Rāmāyaṇa, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
- Adhyātma RāmāyaṇaThe Rāmāyaṇa as Śiva tells it to Pārvatī on Kailāsa, in seven books. Here Rāma is the supreme Self playing out a human story and Sītā is his own power, so every episode is read for its inner meaning.
- Vālmīki RāmāyaṇaVālmīki's poem of Rāma in seven books, the source every later Rāmāyaṇa draws on: a prince exiled from Ayodhyā, his wife Sītā carried off to Laṅkā, the war to win her back, and his return to rule.
The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam
The Piḷḷaiyār Katai
Sri Sathya Sai Baba: the VāhinīsBhāgavata Vāhini, Prema Vāhinī, Rāma Kathā Rasa Vāhini
- Bhāgavata VāhiniHis Telugu retelling of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa in forty-two chapters: from Parīkṣit's curse and Śuka Maharṣi's telling of the story, through Śrī Kṛṣṇa's avatāra and his childhood līlās as Gopāla, to his schooling and the account of his birth.
- Prema VāhinīEssays in Telugu on Prema as the ground of a good life: character before learning, one Indweller in every being, why peace is missing when everything else is at hand. The first of his Vāhinī series.
- Rāma Kathā Rasa VāhiniHis Telugu retelling of the Rāmāyaṇa in two parts, from Rāma's birth through the forest exile and the war with Rāvaṇa to the coronation, Sītā's abandonment and the close of the Avatāra's drama.
Sathya Sai SpeaksSathya Sai Speaks 1953, Sathya Sai Speaks 1955, Sathya Sai Speaks 1956…
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1953Discourses of 1953: at Prasanthi Nilayam, for Dasara, Vijayadasami.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1955Discourses of 1955: at Prasanthi Nilayam, for Shivarathri.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1956Discourses of 1956: at Prasanthi Nilayam, for Guru Purnima.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1957Discourses of 1957: at Venkatagiri, for Hospital day.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1958Discourses of 1958: at Chitthoor, Prasanthi Nilayam and Venkatagiri, for B. Z. High School, Chithravathi River Bed and Dasara, Vijayadasami.
All 57 textsThe first 5 only
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1959Discourses of 1959: at Bengaluru, Budili Village and Madakasira, for Akhanda bhajans, Adyatmic Conference and Shivarathri.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1960Discourses of 1960: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Aukiripalli and Chennai, for Markandeya Sanskrit College, Sathya Sai Hospital and Vaikuṇṭha Ekādaśī.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1961Discourses of 1961: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Chennai and Puttaparthi, for Avatar Day, Birthday and Dasara.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1962Discourses of 1962: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Maddhur, for Shivarathri, Sankranthi and Ugadi.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1963Discourses of 1963: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Srisailam and Bengaluru, for Avatar Day, Krishna Jayanthi and Birthday.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1964Discourses of 1964: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Chennai and Venkatagiri, for Guru Purnima, India Independence Day and Malleswaram.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1965Discourses of 1965: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Rajamundry and Hindupur, for Dasara, Ugadi and Diwali.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1966Discourses of 1966: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Mumbai and Anantapur, for Dasara, Shivarathri and Krishna Jayanthi.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1967Discourses of 1967: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Chennai and Mumbai, for Engineering College, Guru Purnima and Hospital Day.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1968Discourses of 1968: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Mumbai and Venkatagiri, for Shivarathri, Dasara, Vijayadasami and Prasanthi Vidhwanmahaasabha.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1969Discourses of 1969: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Mumbai and Prasanthi Nilayam, AP, for All India Conference, Shivarathri and Birthday.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1970Discourses of 1970: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Mumbai and Bengaluru, for Dasara, Guru Purnima and Bangarpet High School.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1971Discourses of 1971: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Mumbai and Anantapur, for Shivarathri, Ganesh Chaturthi and New Year.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1972Discourses of 1972: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Anantapur, for Christmas, Dasara, Vijayadasami and Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1973Discourses of 1973: at Brindavan, Hyderabad and Prasanthi Nilayam, for Birthday, Diwali and Sankranthi.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1974Discourses of 1974: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan, Whitefield, for Birthday, Conference of Bal Vikas teachers and Dasara, Vijayadasami.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1975Discourses of 1975: at Brindavan, Mumbai and Prasanthi Nilayam, for Fiftieth Birthday, Good Friday and Rama Navami.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1976Discourses of 1976: at Ooty, Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan, for Dasara, Akhanda Bhajan and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1977Discourses of 1977: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Bṛndāvan, Whitefield, for Ganesha Chaturthi, Inauguration day of Yajna and Krishna Jayanthi.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1978Discourses of 1978: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Anantapur, AP, for Teachers' Training Camp, Address to Bal Vikas gurus and Address to educationists.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1979Discourses of 1979: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Alike, for Dasara, Birthday and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1980Discourses of 1980: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan, Whitefield and Anantapur, for Bal Vikas gurus (teachers), Christmas and Fifty-fifth Birthday.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1981Discourses of 1981: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Bengaluru and Anantapur, for Dasara, Vijayadasami, Christmas and Diwali.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1982Discourses of 1982: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Madras, for Christmas, Convocation and Dasara, Avatar Day.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1983Discourses of 1983: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Chennai and Guntur, for Easwaramma Day, Krishna Jayanthi and New Year.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1984Discourses of 1984: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Mumbai and Brindavan, for Bhagavad Gita Series, Anniversary Celebrations and Brabourne Stadium.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1985Discourses of 1985: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Mumbai, for Christmas, Discourse to Ashram residents and Easwaramma Day.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1986Discourses of 1986: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Chennai, for Address at the Anantapur campus, Akhanda Bhajan and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1987Discourses of 1987: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Anantapur and Brindavan, for Address to students, Birthday and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1988Discourses of 1988: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Bombay, for Dasara, Sports Meet and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1989Discourses of 1989: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Anantapur, AP, for Dasara, To the students and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1990Discourses of 1990, in his own Telugu with an English rendering beside each passage: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Bombay, for to students, Birthday and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1991Discourses of 1991: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Prasanthi Nilayam, AP, for Christmas, Dasara and Dīpāvali.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1992Discourses of 1992: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN, for Dasara, Dasara, Vijayadaśamī and New Year.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1993Discourses of 1993: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Kodaikanal, for Dasara, Shivarathri and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1994Discourses of 1994: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Kodaikanal, for National Symposium on Flourosis, Shivarathri and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1995Discourses of 1995: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Bengaluru, for Sankranthi, Christmas and Diwali.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1996Discourses of 1996: at Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam and Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN, for Mahāśivarātri, To the students and Birthday.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1997Discourses of 1997: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Kodaikanal and Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN, for Dasara, World Youth Conference and Shivarathri.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1998Discourses of 1998: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Kodaikanal and Brindavan, Whitefield, for Dasara, Mahāśivarātri and Pādukā festival.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 1999Discourses of 1999: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Kodaikanal, for Dasara, Shivarathri and Tamil New Year, Baisakhi, Vishu.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2000Discourses of 2000: at Brindavan, Prasanthi Nilayam and Prasanthi Nilayam, AP, for Dasara, Mahāśivarātri and Sankrānti, Sports Meet.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2001Discourses of 2001: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Prasanthi Nilayam, AP and Brindavan, for Dasara, Mahāśivarātri and All India Conference.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2002Discourses of 2002: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Whitefield, Bangalore, for Dasara, International Seva Conference and Address to students.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2003Discourses of 2003, in his own Telugu with an English rendering beside each passage: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Kodaikanal, for Kerala Youth Sādhana Camp, Avatāra Day and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2004Discourses of 2004: at Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan, for Kṛṣṇāṣṭamī, Avatar Day and Birthday.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2005Discourses of 2005: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Kodaikanal, for Dasara, Mahāśivarātri and Bhīma Ratha Śānti.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2006Discourses of 2006, in his own Telugu with an English rendering beside each passage: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan and Kodaikanal, for Ati Rudra Mahā Yajña, Dasara and Buddha Pūrṇimā.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2007Discourses of 2007: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Chennai and Kodaikanal, for Ati Rudra Mahā Yajña, Mahāśivarātri and Akhaṇḍa bhajan.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2008Discourses of 2008, in his own Telugu with an English rendering beside each passage: at Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan, for World Education Conference, Mahāśivarātri and Christmas.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2009Discourses of 2009: at Prasanthi Nilayam, Hadshi, Pune and Kodaikanal, for Christmas, Ganesh Chaturthi and Guru Purnima.
- Sathya Sai Speaks 2010Discourses of 2010: at Prasanthi Nilayam, for Ugadi.
Hymns and songsAkṣaramaṇamālai, Guru Gītā, Harināmakīrttanam…
- AkṣaramaṇamālaiAn outpouring of love to Aruṇācala, the hill at Tiruvaṇṇāmalai that Ramaṇa held to be Śiva himself, sung as a bride's garland: 108 verses, one for each Tamil letter — pleading, teasing, surrendering — with the refrain "Aruṇācala Śiva".
- Guru GītāŚiva answers Pārvatī: who the guru is, how a disciple serves, and why the guru is to be saluted as brahman itself. 274 verses, with the dhyāna said before them, each word glossed.
- HarināmakīrttanamEzhuttacchan’s Malayalam hymn to Hari: sixty-six stanzas in the order of the alphabet, each ending on the name of Nārāyaṇa, on the one Self seen as many and the way back to it.
- JñānappānaPūntānam’s Malayalam song of wisdom: how time plays with us, how karma carries the jīva from birth to birth, and why the name of Kṛṣṇa is the way through.
- Mukunda MālāForty Sanskrit verses to Mukunda by the king of the Cēra country: a garland of the Lord's names, a prayer never to forget his feet in any birth, and a call to the tongue, the mind and every sense to turn to him.
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya: devotional hymnsAcyutāṣṭakam, Ardhanārīśvarastotram, Bhagavanmānasapūjā…
- AcyutāṣṭakamEight verses that do nothing but call Viṣṇu by his names — Acyuta, Keśava, Mādhava, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma — Kṛṣṇa's names and Rāma's woven together as one Lord. A hymn made for repetition, with a closing verse on reciting it daily.
- ArdhanārīśvarastotramEight verses to Śiva and Pārvatī as one body, half his and half hers: one side gold, the other camphor-white; one side braided, the other matted. Each line sets her against him and bows to both.
- BhagavanmānasapūjāWorship performed entirely in the mind. Kṛṣṇa is pictured in the lotus of the heart, invited from his ocean of milk, then seated, bathed, dressed, fed and served there with nothing but imagination.
- DaśaślokīstutiḥTen verses of Śiva's great deeds — the burning of the three cities, the swallowing of the ocean's poison — each ending in Sāmba, Śiva with the Mother beside him, as the supreme Brahman where the heart may rest.
- DvādaśaliṅgastotramOne verse for each of the twelve Jyotirliṅgas, the great Śiva shrines from Somnāth to Rāmeśvaram, naming the place and the form of Śiva worshipped there. A pilgrimage across India in twelve verses.
All 39 textsThe first 5 only
- GaṅgāṣṭakamEight verses to the river Gaṅgā as a goddess: her fall from heaven through Śiva's matted hair, the sins a single drop of her water washes off, the bathing elephants and the sages on her banks.
- GovindāṣṭakamEight verses on Kṛṣṇa the infant — crawling in the cowyard, caught eating dirt with the fourteen worlds inside his mouth — set beside the formless Brahman he is. Each verse holds the child and the Absolute at once.
- HanumatpañcaratnamFive verses picturing Hanumān, Rāma's monkey messenger, as a lover of God: tears of bliss, hair standing on end, a face like the rising sun, every craving gone. With a closing verse on the fruit of reciting them.
- HaristutiḥForty-three verses to Viṣṇu as Hari, from one fragment of whom the world came and in whom the wheel of birth and death turns, each closing "I praise Hari, who ends the darkness of this world."
- JagannāthāṣṭakamEight verses to Jagannātha, Lord of the World at Purī by the sea, with his brother and sister beside him and the flute-player of Vṛndāvana behind him. Each ends "may Jagannātha come into the path of my eyes."
- KālabhairavāṣṭakamEight verses to Kālabhairava, the terrifying form of Śiva who guards the holy city of Kāśī: trident and noose in hand, a serpent for his sacred thread, the open sky his only clothing, and a mine of compassion.
- KṛṣṇāṣṭakamEight verses to Kṛṣṇa not as the cowherd boy but as Viṣṇu, Lord of the worlds, who breathes out creation, holds it and draws it back, each ending with the wish that he stand before the singer's eyes.
- LakṣmīnṛsiṃhakaruṇārasastotramSeventeen verses to Nṛsiṃha, Viṣṇu in his man-lion form, from someone drowning in the sea of birth and death. Every verse ends with the same cry: "give me the support of your hand."
- LakṣmīnṛsiṃhapañcaratnamFive verses addressed not to God but to the singer's own mind — a bee circling the dry desert of worldly life, told again and again to go and drink instead at the lotus feet of Nṛsiṃha.
- Śrī mahāgaṇeśa pañcaratnamFive verses to Gaṇeśa, the elephant-headed remover of obstacles, in the quick pañcacāmara metre, made for dawn: the sweet in his hand, the moon in his crown, the disasters he lifts off those who bow to him.
- MaṇikarṇikāṣṭakamEight verses on Maṇikarṇikā, the cremation ghat at Kāśī where the dying are brought, and where Viṣṇu and Śiva are pictured contending to grant release to whoever bathes or dies there.
- NarmadāṣṭakamEight verses to the Narmadā, the river of central India, as a goddess whose flood carries off sin even for those who hate her, and who sheltered the sage Mārkaṇḍeya at the world's dissolution. Each bows to her feet.
- Śrī pāṇḍuraṅga aṣṭakamEight verses to Pāṇḍuraṅga, Viṣṇu as he stands at Pandharpur on the Bhīmā river — both feet on a single brick, hands on his hips — where he came to bless his devotee Puṇḍarīka and stayed.
- ṢaṭpadīstotramSix verses to Viṣṇu, a "six-footed" hymn like a bee at his lotus feet: take away my pride, quiet my mind, widen my compassion. "I am yours; you are not mine — the wave belongs to the ocean, never the ocean to the wave."
- ŚivanāmāvalyaṣṭakamEight verses that call on Śiva by strings of his names — moon-crowned, blue-throated, lord of the mountain — and make one plea in every verse: pull me out of this trackless jungle of worldly sorrow.
- ŚivānandalaharīA hundred verses on devotion to Śiva, "the wave of Śiva-bliss": what love of him is — the needle to the magnet, the river to the sea — and what it does to the one who has it.
- ŚivapañcākṣaranakṣatramālāstotramTwenty-seven verses to Śiva, one for each star the moon passes through in a month, every line ending in the five syllables of his mantra, "namaḥ śivāya". A garland of stars for the chanter.
- ŚivapañcākṣarastotramFive verses to Śiva, one for each of the five syllables of his mantra, na-maḥ-śi-vā-ya. Each pictures him — ash-smeared, serpent-garlanded, clothed in the sky — and closes on its own letter.
- ŚivāparādhakṣamāpaṇastotramFifteen verses asking Śiva's forgiveness for a life lived without remembering him — the womb, childhood, youth spent on pleasure, old age — ending as life drains away: I have come to your refuge, protect me now.
- ŚrīgaṇeśabhujaṅgamNine verses to Gaṇeśa in the bhujaṅgaprayāta metre, whose glide the title names: the bells at his waist, his dance, his swaying trunk, and the boon he grants to whoever recites this at dawn.
- ŚrīmṛtyuñjayamānasikapūjāstotramForty-six verses of worship in the mind to Śiva as Mṛtyuñjaya, conqueror of death: pictured on Kailāsa under the wish-granting tree, then offered a jewelled palace, bath, garments, food and lamps, all in thought.
- ŚrīrāmabhujaṅgaprayātastotramTwenty-nine verses to Rāma in the bhujaṅgaprayāta metre, praised at once as the prince of Ayodhyā with Sītā and as pure being, awareness and bliss — the name Śiva whispers into the ear of the dying at Kāśī.
- ŚrīśivabhujaṅgamForty verses to Śiva in the bhujaṅgaprayāta metre, opening with Gaṇeśa: Śiva throned amid his powers, his form and deeds, and at the last the singer's own plea to be rescued from the ocean of birth.
- ŚrīśivakeśādipādāntavarṇanastotramTwenty-nine verses describing Śiva from the matted locks of his head down to his feet, each part asked to protect the hearer: the Gaṅgā in his hair like ripe paddy, the three lines of ash a silver stair to freedom.
- ŚrīśivapādādikeśāntavarṇanastotramForty-one verses describing Śiva from his feet up to his hair, beginning with Kailāsa itself and his bow, arrow and trident, each asked in turn to guard the hearer.
- ŚrīsubrahmaṇyabhujaṅgamThirty-three verses to Subrahmaṇya — Murugan, Śiva's son who rides the peacock — in the bhujaṅgaprayāta metre, sung at his shrine by the sea at Tiruchendur. The singer says he knows nothing of poetry, and asks to be healed and protected.
- ŚrīviṣṇubhujaṅgaprayātastotramFourteen verses to Viṣṇu in the bhujaṅgaprayāta metre that move from the formless — pure consciousness, reached only through Oṃ — down to the god a devotee can picture, with conch and discus and Lakṣmī at his side.
- SuvarṇamālāstutiḥA "golden garland" for Śiva: fifty verses, each beginning with the next letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, each ending "Sāmba Sadāśiva, your feet are my refuge." The alphabet itself becomes the praise.
- UmāmaheśvarastotramTwelve verses saluting Śiva and Pārvatī never singly but always as a pair — eternally young, riding the bull together, worshipped by every god — with a closing verse on reciting them three times a day.
- VedasāraśivastotramEleven verses of Śiva remembered as "the essence of the Veda": Lord of every bound creature, the one from whom the world is born, in whom it rests and into whom it dissolves.
- ViṣṇupādādikeśāntastotramFifty-two verses describing Viṣṇu from his feet up to the hair of his head, one part at a time, after first praising his conch, discus, bow and consorts. A meditation that builds the whole form limb by limb.
- ViṣṇusahasranāmastotramHis commentary on the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma, the thousand names of Viṣṇu that the dying Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira in the Mahābhārata, each name explained for what it says about God.
- YamunāṣṭakamEight verses to the river Yamunā, daughter of the sun and companion of Kṛṣṇa's childhood, as an ocean of compassion that cools every burning. Each asks "purify me"; the last tells the fruit of praising her at dawn.
- YamunāṣṭakamA second eight verses to the Yamunā, whose dark water carries the colour of Kṛṣṇa's body and whose groves still hold his play. Each ends with one prayer: may Kalinda's daughter wash the stain from our minds.